Extensive research has shown that citizen satisfaction with the police is influenced by their perceptions about neighborhood crime and disorder. Numerous studies have found that citizens had lower overall satisfaction and confidence in the police when they had higher levels of fear of crime in their neighborhood and higher perceptions of neighborhood disorder (such as […]

Law enforcement is one of the most difficult, stressful, and dangerous careers an individual can pursue. The threats to your life, however, come from more sources than the knives and guns of evil doers. In fact, less than 20% of the law enforcement officers who died over the last three years died as a result […]

Officers undergoing training on how to de-escalate a tense situation focused on a central question Thursday: How would Aristotle work as a beat cop? Retired Raleigh Police Chief Harry Dolan shared his answer to that question, developed from his 32 years as a police officer, with a group of about 60 officers from Greer and […]

The situation echoed a scene that caught national attention and enraged protestors: two police officers approaching a man on the street selling cigarettes, upset over what he felt was unfair targeting. But unlike the way the 2014 arrest of Eric Garner ended in his death in New York City, this scene ended with Harry Dolan, […]

DURHAM – Harry Dolan wants Durham cops to be more like Aristotle. Dolan, who retired as Raleigh’s police chief in 2012, believes the ancient Greek philosopher’s modes of persuasion – ethos, pathos and logos – can help save careers and even lives. At a day-long workshop Tuesday, he armed Durham police officers with verbal strategies for […]

Police must regularly communicate with the people they serve, as well as have positive contacts with people, in order to gain respect and trust, consultants told Martinsville Police Department officials on Thursday. “Negative contacts with police, if we can knock that out, that’s 50 percent of the battle” to convince people that police are striving […]

MARTINSVILLE (WSLS 10) – Police in Martinsville are working to be more involved in the community. Officers there want input from the people in the community to influence how they enforce the law. At a symposium Thursday, speaker and former Sheriff Harry Dolan says this community policing concept began after several high profile cases around the […]

DURHAM, N.C. (WNCN) — Nearly every Durham Police Department employee is now trained in verbal de-escalation tactics. The announcement was made Tuesday during the final training session led by retired Raleigh police chief Harry Dolan. The purpose of the training is to improve police-community relations, reduce citizen complaints and improve safety for officers and the […]

Sometimes, Fayetteville’s Chief Police Harold Medlock says, he can’t sleep, anxious there will an officer-involved shooting. “I wake up at night worried about that,” he said. After the riots in Ferguson, the protests in Chicago and the looting in Baltimore, every chief knows the potential for an explosion. Since 2013, Fayetteville police officers have been […]